(2017 Glamour Praxis Exam)
Lammas. A time for bread baking and contemplation —
Pass.
Lammas. A time to consider the fates of various sun gods —
Double pass.
Look. We have a tiny air conditioner that is like the Little Engine That Could (Maybe). The last thing I want to do when it’s a million degrees out is bake some freaking bread right now. Like what sadist decided those two things go together? (rhetorical. I don’t actually care.) And sun gods? As someone who spent her formative years in the company of women in most every aspect of her life, you can imagine how many effs I have in that arena as well.
I’m supposed to be at Pennsic drinking homemade floral liquors under chandelier decked trees, listening to singing, laughing and vomiting like any good festival will offer. And instead I’m stuck here at work, like a loser who is a million months overdue with this damn book baby that is determined to win the staring contest on how long it will take to actually launch (a week left and counting, this time last year I was having a very intense email exchange in a corset at Pennsic with my editor about getting all my edits into her in two weeks . . . .so I could launch, this time this year. Book babies are elephant babies). Summers in an accounting firm are as close to June in high school as I ever want to get again. It involves horrors like “basement filing”, “let’s really clean this place up”, “you have enough work, don’t you?” and other key phrases that make me want to stab myself in the hand with a letter opener to make sure I can still feel feelings.
I don’t know what someone is supposed to feel like when one is on the cusp of accomplishing one’s Great Work. I get a lot of worried faces from my circles when I mention personal key phrases like, “I’m clawing at myself because I am full of hives”, “I’m pulling my nose ring out in my sleep” and “I am having very strange vivid dreams”. JohnM says I’m like an anxious infant and I need sleep mittens which I think I would welcome at this point.
So what do you do when you’ve been left behind for the biggest festival of the year, work is an eternity and you are freaking and hella pregnant with a book baby?
FIND The Glamour HERE
Deborah Castellano's book Glamour Magic: The Witchcraft Revolution to Get What You Want is available for purchase through Amazon, Llewellyn and Barnes and Noble.She is a frequent contributor to Occult/Pagan sources such as the Llewellyn almanacs, Witchvox, PaganSquare and Witches & Pagans magazine. She writes about Charms, Hexes, Weeknight Dinner Recipes, Glamoury and Unsolicited Opinions on Morals and Magic here at Charmed, I'm Sure. Deborah's book, The Arte of Glamour is available for purchase on Amazon in paperback and Kindle. Her craft shop, The Mermaid & The Crow specializes in old-world style workshop from 100% local, sustainable sources featuring tempting small batch ritual oils and hand-spun hand-dyed yarn in luxe fibers and more! In a previous life, Deborah founded the first Neo-Victorian/Steampunk convention, SalonCon which received rave reviews from con-goers and interviews from the New York Times and MTV.She resides in New Jersey with her husband, Jow and their cat, Max II. She has a terrible reality television habit she can't shake and likes St. Germain liquor, record players and typewriters. Deborah is a social media dork and can be found wasting far too much time on Twitter, Facebook, G+, Instagram and Tumblr.
